Leaping Velociraptor

RAPTOR ATTACK!!

An experiment from a year ago, trying to draw a realistic design using the visual elements of an art style traditional to many native groups along the Northwest Coast of North America, such as the Tlingit and the Haida. Obviously, this velociraptor is not traditional.

I've been reluctant to post this drawing, for that very reason. I know there are a lot of people with strong feelings about outsiders using this art style outside of its traditional context. It is a complicated situation. I've had a number of conversations with people who are as close to the 'inside' as I could find, some of which you may read here: [link] [link]

At this point, I am ready to put this out there, as a humble experiment, simply to see how people react and what people think of my approach. If this turns out to be a mistake, I will welcome the suffering brought down upon myself and do my best to learn from the experience. Let's see what happens.

Pen and colored pencil.

This is an example of a naturalistic formline design, where the silhouette more or less matches that of the actual animal.

If you like this artwork, and you want to learn more about the cultural context in which the style was developed, please see the excellent book A Story as Sharp as Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World by Robert Bringhurst. I've written a review of it, which you can read here: [link]

Enjoy!

Naturalistic: Leaping Velociraptor
Configurative: Baby Turtle
Expansive: Future of Frog
Distributed: Salmon Box